So do I, Ethan thought.

"Your room is still at your disposal," the king continued. "And you may move about as you wish. Though I would ask that you take an escort whenever you leave the manor, just to be on the side of caution."

Ethan nodded his agreement and turned to the door.

"One last thing," called Halvar. "Thank you for keeping my honor...and my throne intact."

He smiled and bowed his head. "Your people need you far more than they need me."

On returning to his room, he found Markus and Jonas already waiting there. He told them what had transpired, and about the girl in the crystal.

Jonas was elated. "She lives?! That's good news indeed! Can you take me to her?"

"Tomorrow," said Ethan. The sight of his bed was making him keenly aware of the fatigue in his muscles. "Right now, I really am tired."

Markus grinned and slapped Jonas on the shoulder. "Come on you old bag of turnips. Let the boy rest. I think we should find ourselves a few bottles of wine."

Jonas scowled. "I'd kindly ask that you do not call me that."

A sudden loud bang at the door grabbed everyone's attention. Before Ethan could answer, it flew open and Kat stepped inside. Her face was red with anger.

Beaming, he held out his hands. "So you heard we're back."

Whatever reaction he was expecting, it was far from the one he received. Spanning the distance between them in two long strides, she punched him squarely on the nose. Ethan staggered back, a thin trickle of blood spilling over his lip.

"That's for leaving me behind!" she shouted. Message delivered, she rounded on Markus and Jonas who were wide-eyed with shock. "I'll deal with you two later."

Her furious gaze remained fixed on the pair until they finally took the hint and hurried from the room. Ethan heard both of them bursting into laughter the moment they were outside.

"How could you?" Kat demanded.

"I had to. It was too dangerous."

"No. How could you leave without saying goodbye?"

Ethan looked into her eyes. Though still burning with fury, they also contained a deep hurt. "I'm sorry," he said. "I should have said something. But I was afraid you would find a way to follow us. At the time, it didn't look like we'd be able to stay alive much longer. I..."

Before he could finish, she threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. "I know you don't feel about me the same way I feel about you. And that's fine. I understand now. But that's no excuse for abandoning me without as much as a word."

Ethan stroked her hair. "I promise. I'll never do it again."

Kat looked up at his face and began to laugh softly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small cloth that she used to wipe the blood from his face.

"Now I want you to tell me everything that happened," she insisted. "People are whispering and gossiping that the dragons have returned. Is it true?"

"It's true."

Ethan sat down at the table and gave her the full story.

"I knew the dragons would come," she said.

"Yeah. But now I have to figure out a way to find them. They're calling to me in my dreams, but I don't know what they want me to do."

"King Ganix will know. Lady Thora told me that he's the wisest dwarf alive."

"King Halvar said the same thing."

"In that case, I suggest you do some studying while you wait."

Skipping to the door, she picked up a bundle that was lying on the floor just outside and placed it on the table. Ethan unwrapped it to find four books with strange looking symbols etched all over the covers.

"Lady Thora gave these to me," Kat said. "They're the only books she could find on human magic. She told me most of them were destroyed when Shinzan came. I tried reading them, but I can't understand hardly any of it."

Ethan ran his hands over the covers and traced the symbols with his index finger. "Thank you. And thank Lady Thora for me."

"I will."

Kat then went on to tell him about her time with Lady Thora and her granddaughters. In spite of his fatigue, he listened attentively. When she was finally done, she stood up and hugged him goodbye.

"I'm glad you're safe," she said quite seriously, then gave a mischievous smile. "But you really did deserve that punch in the nose."

Once alone, Ethan took a few minutes to flip through the pages of one of the books. He was excited by the possibilities of what they might contain. But for now, it would have to wait. The exhaustion was overwhelming. Even the walk to the shower felt like it was up a steep hill.

He was asleep seconds after slipping beneath the blanket.

Chapter Twenty-Three.

Ethan spent most of the next few weeks in the underground chamber alongside Lady Lylinora. The first time he showed her to Jonas, the old man had wept openly.

"She is just as I remember," he said. "Radiant, isn't she?"

Ethan agreed wholeheartedly. "She's breathtaking. No doubt about it."

"You must find a way to free her," he urged. "She was a very talented mage, especially for someone so young. She could teach you much."

Sadly, the books given to him by Kat had thus far been of little use. They were confusing and vague. Ethan guessed they were written for someone who'd already learned at least the basics of magic. It was like trying to study physics without knowing simple addition and subtraction. Nevertheless, the possibility that hidden somewhere within the pages was the key to freeing Lylinora was enough to keep him trying. For hour upon hour he sat in front of the crystal, reading and re-reading each book.

The fact that he spent so much time there did not sit well with Kat, and she made her displeasure obvious. Frequently Ethan would venture down to the cavern only to find that the door to where the crystal was kept had a pile of rubbish shoved in front of it. Every time he asked her about this she would just throw up her hands and bat her eyes innocently.

Some nights he would simply sit in front of Lylinora and stare at her dreamily. Whenever Kat saw him doing this she would sneak up behind him and topple his chair. One time, his head struck the ground so hard it almost knocked him unconscious. After that he made a habit of placing a bottle in front of the door so he could hear every time it was opened.

The voices of the dragons persisted. Their desperate calls were now echoing in his mind even when he was awake. He tried to talk back, but was never able to make them hear him. The only time they were truly quiet was on the occasions he fell asleep studying in the cavern. This prompted him to take a small cot down and begin sleeping there as much as possible. Naturally, Kat hated this, and frequently he would wake in the morning to find Lylinora's crystal smothered over by blankets.

King Halvar spent his time making preparations. Ethan attended the first few council meetings, but they dealt mostly with matters of supplies and defenses. By the end of the third a.s.sembly he decided not to return unless called for.

The king visited him frequently and kept him updated on progress. And though it was clear that he did so out of courtesy rather than need, Ethan was happy that the king's melancholy was beginning to lift. Whether this was due to seeing his people smiling and laughing with renewed hope, or possibly the calm acceptance only understood by those destined to meet their end, Ethan wasn't sure. Either way, he had grown to enjoy the king's company.

"You should go out into the city more," Halvar often suggested. "You spend too much time in that cavern. A young man like you should not be looking so weary all the time."

But Ethan was totally focused on his study. In response he would smile politely and nod, yet with no real intention of taking up his suggestion.

Halvar had ordered all tunnels leading to and from Elyfoss be set with special rajni stones that would seal the mountain completely if activated. Shinzan, he reasoned, may be able to shatter their gates, but blasting through mile upon mile of solid rock would be an entirely different proposition. Only the dwarves themselves possessed the tools to cut through the mountain rapidly enough to be a threat. The downside was that, once sealed in, even with their superior equipment it would take them more than a year to get out again. This meant that provisions would need to be stockpiled and new ventilation shafts drilled. The undertaking was enormous, but the dwarves were undaunted. Ethan thought back to the way they had looked when he first arrived. They were a worn and beaten people then, filled with fear and anger. Now, although fear still remained, a new life had been breathed into their hearts.

When news came that King Ganix would be arriving in less than a week, Elyfoss erupted into a beehive of activity. Ganix was well loved and respected amongst the dwarves. Even more so than King Halvar. The council thought that a celebration was not only appropriate, but would also ease the mounting pressures put upon the people as they readied their beloved city for war.

It was just two days before the expected arrival of Ganix when Ethan burst into Markus' room, his face alight with excitement. His friend was sitting with Jonas, teaching the old man how to play chess on a makeshift set he had pieced together.

"What's got into you?" Markus asked.

Jonas didn't bother to look up. So far, he had been beaten in every game they played, and he was not willing to admit that the 'scarred brute' as he liked to call Markus when irritated, could outwit one as educated and cultured as himself...even in a game he had only just learned.

"Come on down to the cavern," panted Ethan. "There's something I have to show you."

When they arrived, Kat was already there. Predictably, the covers and pillows were missing from Ethan's cot and a blanket was draped untidily over Lylinora.

Moving the table and chairs aside, Ethan stood in the center of the room. "You should stand back," he warned.

Once they were well clear, he held out his right palm and closed his eyes. After several deep cleansing breaths, he opened his eyes again and whispered: "Alevi".

A ball of green flame appeared, hovering a few inches above his hand.

"Very nice," said Jonas. "A good start."

"Yeah," said Markus. "But did we really need to stand back?"

Ethan never took his eyes off the fire. "That's not what I wanted to show you." A roguish grin grew from the corners of his mouth. "Alevi Drago!" he shouted.

This time there was a blinding flash and a loud roar that threw all three of the spectators hard against the nearby wall. They stared in a combination of terror and wonder as the flame took the form of a ma.s.sive pair of dragon wings spanning the entire width of the cavern. The heat was so intense that they were forced to shield their faces. Kat screamed and tried to run, but the fire blocked the way out.

"Enough!" cried Jonas.

The flame instantly vanished, leaving Ethan standing there, completely unharmed and with a smile stretching from ear to ear.

Markus was trembling, unable to speak, while Jonas was looking only mildly pleased.

"Not bad," he said. "I'm not sure how useful it is...but not bad."

Ethan was crestfallen by his lack of enthusiasm. "Not bad? What do you mean? You know how long it took me to figure that out?"

"I once saw your father conjure a flock of fire-breathing eagles to chase off bandits that were plaguing a village," Jonas told him. "And he did so with very little effort. You'll need to show me more than a pair of flaming wings before I'm impressed."

Ethan was about to say something back when he noticed Kat on her knees, weeping into her hands. He hurried over and touched her on the shoulder.

"Are you all right?"

Her eyes shot up. An instant later she slapped him hard across the cheek. The crack of the impact bounced loudly off the stone walls and left a bright red mark on his face.

"You should have warned us!" she yelled, wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry," said Ethan. "I was just excited. I didn't think it would scare you so badly."

Kat pushed herself to her feet and stiffened her back. "I wasn't scared. It just surprised me."

"Don't worry," said Markus. By now he had regained much of his composure, though was still looking a touch shaken. "It scared me too. How did you do that?"

"It was right at the end of one of those books," Ethan explained. "Most of it is too confusing for me. It's not like it just tells you to say something definite. It talks mostly about the essence of magic, how it combines with the elements, where you draw the power from...stuff like that. And even when it does give you words, it's not specific words. It's a series of possible words or phrases that may or may not be right, depending on what you're combining them with."

He shook his head, as if to clear away the muddle. "But then I found this one...and I understood it. Don't ask me why, but it just made sense."

"What was it?" asked Kat, doing her best to look calm again.

"Dragon fire," he replied. "And you're wrong, Jonas. It is useful. I only made wings because we're inside this cavern. But I can make it into any shape I want. Well, I think I can. I can't see any reason why not."

"Then we should make arrangements for you to go somewhere with more room," Jonas said. "What you've achieved may not be much compared with an experienced mage, but you could certainly stop a few soldiers with it. Or at the very least, scare them away."

"I say that you should get the h.e.l.l out of this dungeon and celebrate," added Markus.

Ethan glanced over at the still covered crystal. "I think I should stay here and keep on working."

"I think you spend enough time ogling that little b..." Kat stopped herself from uttering the next word. "Just for a little while. Please."

Her pleading eyes and Markus' inviting smile soon forced Ethan to give in on the condition that Jonas came along too. The old man groaned unhappily but agreed.

"So long as this oaf of a bandit stops calling me an old sack of turnips," he said.

"You make fun of my poor scarred face and then complain about that?" cried Markus, trying hard to sound offended.

"It wasn't me who started with the insults," Jonas countered.

Kat blew an exasperated breath. "And I'm the one who's supposed to be a child."

They headed upstairs and quickly came across an unused parlor. Markus found some wine and a few bowls of fruit to get them started, and soon they were talking and laughing as if the world around them had never gone awry. Even Jonas looked like he was having fun, especially when telling them stories of some of his boyhood misadventures. Birger stopped in briefly to tell Ethan that King Halvar would like him to join the council the next day. Ethan asked him to stay with them for a while, but the dwarf politely declined.

After another hour or so, Ethan struggled to his feet.

"If I have to see the council tomorrow," he told them, moving toward the door on rather unsteady legs. "I need to sleep off all this wine."

"You always were a lightweight," teased Markus. "Even Kat here can outdrink you."

She pursed her lips. "He just wants to get back to Lylinora."

"She is quite the beauty," Markus chuckled.